The duke invites the princess to a dance. The duke tells her that the kingdom of the flower has been prosperous for thousands of years, but that it has recently suffered a defeat. He tells the princess that the emperor fled to the west with his concubine and handed over his only princess to the enemy. The emperor wanted to lessen the cost of his defeat, so he gave her the power of the emperor's army. This is completely different than the eastern kingdom that the princess's mother described to her, the duke says. The kingdom has experienced many great cycles, he says, from the establishment of the constitutional monarchy until now, it is probably only two hundred years old. He says that in every great rise and fall there exists a person who can restore the kingdom, such as Bi-Li, shouren-wang, and guofan-zeng.